Indexed by Google?

[pelf81]

I read somewhere about some blogs being indexed by Google. So my questions are:

(1) What does it mean to be "indexed by Google"? What are the importance/benefits of it?
(2) How do I get my blog to be indexed?

[Bloggeries]

Hi Pelf,

Being indexed typically means that google has crawled your site and added you into the "index" of their search engine so theoretically when it does it's search for most relevant sites to produce for a search query your site is in the index and could be summoned.

That being said I found the BEST way to get indexed is to submit to a few well ranked and crawled directories that are obviously "trusted" by google. The spiders will crawl through the directory and follow the link to your site.

It's important to get a few good links in the beginning because if your first few links are sort of spammy from non reputable sites it is possible to get "sandboxed" its' a period that can be a few months to infinity where google hasn't banned you but they also haven't accepted you into their index. I've had one in he sandbox and it can be maddening I'm glad I did though as I "abandoned" that project and started this and others. I'm not out of the sandbox so if you get sanboxed... I'd recommend just letting it take its course.

Benefits of being indexed: Search Engine traffic. All search engines only pull results from their index so if you are not indexed you'll never have a chance of getting any traffic. Search Engine traffic is some of the most targeted you can get so each visitors is genuinely looking for what your site is about so the conversion rates are better than just say banner advertising or a link from someone else somewhat related to your blog.

I hope this helps

Rob

Originally Posted by pelf81

I read somewhere about some blogs being indexed by Google. So my questions are:

(1) What does it mean to be "indexed by Google"? What are the importance/benefits of it?
(2) How do I get my blog to be indexed?

[jshaffstall]

Rob beat me to it (darn this pre-semester preparation!).

I'll just add to his excellent explanation that "submitting" to search engines is a waste of time. They'll find your blog based on links to it from other sites. And if they can't find it that way, submitting isn't going to help much anyway (since it'll be a new site with no backlinks).

Jay

[pelf81]

OK, thanks Rod and Jay for the explanations. But can somebody tell me whether my blog is indexed? And how do I know whether it is indexed or not?

[jshaffstall]

Originally Posted by pelf81

OK, thanks Rod and Jay for the explanations. But can somebody tell me whether my blog is indexed? And how do I know whether it is indexed or not?

The easy answer is that if your blog shows up in Google search results, or your analytics show anyone finding it through a Google search, then it's indexed.

To double check, you can do a Google search using the "site:" qualifier. This finds a specific site in the index. For example, "site:chenpn.com" would search for your blog specifically.

Your is most definitely indexed, with about 1,200 pages showing up for the site search.

Jay

[pelf81]

Thank you so much, Jay!

[solidghost]

Next you should check whether Google has indexed your site often. I think this should be the important objective to aim for.
So if you can, update your blog everyday. I try to.